"We work to move decision-making power from central government to local councils. This helps put communities in charge of planning, increase accountability and help citizens to see how their money is being spent." This great example of government speak appears on the front page of the Department for Communities and Local Government and its public commitment to the principle of localism.

As voters, we like the idea of localism. People feel that they want to be responsible for their own areas and have a say. But when they do have an opportunity to take part, do citizens engage? They certainly couldn't be bothered to have a say in the recent police and crime commissioner elections; the low turnout for that election was certainly an embarrassment, and a shock to many.

Recent local headlines have focused on changes to the appeal procedures for planning decisions. The fear is that new development will get out of control, with every homeowner getting approval for a vast extension in the back garden.

But there's far more to this issue that the threat of local disputes. What we're looking at is an entire change of focus in our planning system with the introduction, through the national planning policy framework, of a presumption in favour of "sustainable development," as arbitrated by local decision makers.

There are some basic planning principles contained within the government's new policy strategy, published in early 2012. One of them is that planning should be led by local plans, "empowering local people to shape their surroundings." But there's a problem: the interests of the local authority and the residents are not always aligned, and there's no additional funding to design or deliver the vision of local residents.

According to the strategy, the council should aim to "involve all sections of the community in the development of local plans and in planning decisions". But there is little guidance on how it should act to achieve this laudable aim. It's spells out a recipe for local disaster to me.

Given that the vast total sum of £20.5m has been allocated for the much-heralded community right-to-build programme, don't expect to see new "community" buildings sprouting up in your area. It's just window-dressing for a major development scheme.

So who should decide what happens in your area when it comes to planning? David Cameron doesn't want to see central government interfering – he's an advocate of localism after all. Should it be local authorities? They have a critical part to play in deciding local policy, but their budgets have been slashed and there is little capacity to resource new initiatives. Planning officers will have their work cut out trying to interpret the new policies without the 1,000 pages that contained so much useful guidance.

Should it be the general public, dictating the local plan? They're far too likely to be nimbys and devolving power down to the people can have the unintended consequence of devolving it to the wrong people – those who oppose any change at the expense of local progress.

Like many others in local government, I'm not looking forward to this new future of confusion. But wearing my lawyer hat I'm doing cartwheels down the corridors. In seeking to simplify local planinng, the government has done little more than create a vacuum in which legal firms can profit from councils and local people. Is this what localism really means?